Cambridgeshire is getting a whopping £6.653 million to tackle potholes on the county's roads.

The cash boost has been revealed by the Department for Transport after an extra £420 million of roads funding was announced in this year's budget.

Cambridgeshire will receive this money in 2019/20 from the Local Highways and Integrated Transport Block funds, which will go towards repairing roads and investing in small safety, bus priority or walking and cycling schemes.

This extra money will fund work in addition to what's already being done by three specialist machines called ‘dragon patchers’ which can repair potholes quickly.

The funding is desperately needed to sort out the pothole problem in Cambridgeshire

Chair of Cambridgeshire County Council’s highways and community infrastructure committee, Mathew Shuter, said: “Following the announcement from government, we’re delighted to be receiving an extra £6.6m to tackle repairs to our roads in Cambridgeshire.

"The Roads Minister has recognised we need extra money this winter to keep our roads in good condition.

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Pothole stories

“We have learnt from the previous winter and have already made changes to the way we repair the potholes so we’re ready for this winter.

“Our roads are important to us and we are listening to people’s frustrations by already spending £3m on pothole repairs alongside a programme to resurface roads.

Roads in Cambridgeshire are known to be dreadful for potholes (Image: Richard Patterson)

“We have a number of ways to fix potholes, including three of our own dragon patchers that can repair up to 150 potholes a day.”

The council is calling for people to continue to report problems on the roads that need maintenance using this online tool.

Since 2015, roads in the East have received more than £446 million for highways maintenance, in addition to the cash for the A14 bypass between Cambridge and Huntingdon, the recently opened Ely Southern Bypass and improvements to the A414 near Harlow.

Cambridgeshire and Peterborough also received a £21 million boost from the Budget, bringing its Transforming Cities Fund total to £95 million. This fund is designed to improve public transport links to jobs.

Ely Southern bypass

Roads Minister Jesse Noman said:“Potholes are a huge problem for all road users, and too often we see issues occurring at the same place time after time.

“That is why the Government is investing more in improving our roads than at any time before - £15 billion between 2015 and 2020 and a further £28.8 billion to 2025. Plus an immediate extra £420 million for potholes and local road maintenance just this year.

“The East will be getting an extra £54 million this winter to keep its roads in good condition to keep drivers and cyclists safe.”